Church of the Big Sky

According to this TravBuddy map, I’ve seen 15% of the countries on the planet. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out, I’ve only been to airports in India, Japan, Slovakia, and the Philippines, but I was on the ground and out of the planes, so I’m counting those babies!) Kinda cool to see it charted out.

In other news, I did not win that “Best DC Blog By a DC Blogger” poll. But mucho, mucho thanks to all your fine folks who voted for me – I really appreciate it. I thought I would do more writing on this long, long weekend off, but instead, I’m semi-obsessed with Things Domestic. I keep rearranging furniture over and over and over again. I’m sure the guy downstairs hates me. And speaking of hate, I finally called the police about the incessant barking of the poor dog next door. Those freaky people leave that critter out 24/7 and ignore it. It’s a tiny dog, and it’s desperate for attention, poor thing. It’s been quiet, though, since the cops came by. That, ladies and gentlemen is a miracle.

And, speaking of the MoCo police, I was pulled over today on Rockville Pike. Believe it or not, I’m glad to have been stopped. Turns out three of my four brake lights are out. Holy crow! The officer gave me a repair document – not a ticket – and I have ten days to get the lights fixed or my registration is suspended. I thanked the cop – I seriously appreciated knowing. Considering the amount of time I’m in stop and go traffic on my way to work, having functioning brake lights is pretty damn important. Now, I have to figure out if Madame Klutz can replace these guys on her own or if I have to take it to a garage to have it done. Don’t laugh – I just look at tools and injure myself.

Today I managed to batter myself pretty darn well with my horribly half-assed attempt to put doors on two IKEA bookshelves. I was trying to rid myself of Bad Furniture Karma. These are, you see, the bookshelves I was putting together when my eye problem first appeared, on July 3rd last year. I literally stopped working with those shelves and had left the doors propped up against the wall since then. Stupid? Yes. But sometimes stress makes us do dumb stuff. Long story short – I attempted to affix the doors to the shelves. I halfway succeeded. They halfway fell off. And, just a few minutes ago, they completely fell off. Looks like I need a friend to come by and help me.

And I may need a friend to help with the lights on my car, too, if it doesn’t require the assist of a real mechanic. Not sure I can swing the cost of a mechanic this month. But I can always make dinner for a friend.

Oh, god. I used a smiley in a blog entry.

Christ. I think that’s a capital crime, isn’t it?

Hanging my head in shame,

Yours from the barking-dog-free zone,

Merujo